Plan B sells boards with overall reliable attributes. They offer decks made from seven-ply wood. Powell is a longstanding company that founded the legendary Bones Brigade team, which kick-started Tony Hawk's career. Their skateboard designs change annually, but always look cool. Tony Hawk’s skate company is called Birdhouse. Their decks feature bird themes and have a thicker sixth layer of wood that makes it easier to jump and do flip tricks, which is ideal for vertical-style skateboarding. For environmentally-conscious skaters and fans of Bam Margera, buy a board from Element. They have variety on the technical side with their seven-ply boards and Helium decks. Their skateboards are made with an air pocket to be lightweight.
Decks come in a variety of shapes and sizes. You can choose a mini-board, a cruiser, a drop-through or a standard deck for your favorite set of wheels and hardware. Widths range too from a few inches with a 22-inch board to the wide size of a true cruiser. Some decks are flat as possible while others are significantly concave for optimized turning. You can buy a deck with artwork and grip tape already attached for a quick install or you can get a bare-bones wooden deck to truly customize.
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Also called the mounting hardware, the skateboard hardware is useful in connecting the trucks to the deck. Every truck is actually in need of 4 bolts and locknuts. If you are planning to buy hardware for your custom skateboard, then note that they are often sold in sets composed of 8 parts, though it is also possible for you to buy individual parts separately when required.
The good news is that majority of skate shoes today come with high-quality flat soles that are capable of providing the maximum surface area designed to let you come in contact to the board, thereby promoting better control. Look for a really durable shoe, which you can wear comfortably to guarantee a safe and enjoyable experience when you are skateboarding.
If you are completely new to skateboarding, consider taking a minute to read through the Skateboard Decks Section in our Buyer’s Guide will be helpful, but a good rule of thumb is: the bigger your feet, the wider your board should be. If you wear a size 9 and up, you can’t go wrong with buying an 8” board. Narrow boards are easier to flip while wider boards are more stable, but there are no hard and fast rules to skateboarding. The only way to really find out what you like is by trying new shapes, sizes, and brands. Brands like Welcome, Baker, Chocolate, Deathwish, and Element all have a wide variety of sizes, shapes, and graphics.

Choosing a skateboard deck is a great place to start when building a complete skateboard. Unless you have experience riding a shaped board - something a little more retro or unusual, we recommend you start with a popsicle shape. CCS carries over 60 different skateboard deck brands that sell this popular popsicle shape. If you have questions on what size you should ride or have any other questions about building a complete, we recommend you check out our Skateboard Buyer’s Guide. Here, you’ll find helpful how-to’s for choosing a skateboard decks, skateboard trucks, skateboard wheels, skateboard bearings, and skateboard components. This guide explains every part of a skateboard and helps you choose which sizes and styles to best suit your needs.
It's a neat piece of science art, and it also tells us something interesting. The arrows show us that the force on the skateboard is constantly changing, both in magnitude as well as in direction. Now the force of gravity obviously isn't changing, so the reason that these force arrows are shrinking and growing and tumbling around is that the skater is changing how their feet pushes and pulls against the board. By applying a variable force that changes both in strength and direction, they're steering the board.
To get higher ollies, I would suggesting resting your back foot on the very end of the tail and the front foot in the middle of the deck to allow for more slide. Popping as hard as you can and catching your board in the groove of the nose with you ankle practically resting in the groove will level the board out in the air. after this initial movement slide you feet back to the bolts on the tail and nose to ensure a clean landing.